Originally Posted by
ijgordon
I suppose you could try to sneak the dog on, especially if it will remain in its carrier under the seat. But the penalty for getting caught could be worse than just being charged the $125 or whatever fee. I *think* there are limits to how many cabin pets can be on an aircraft, and so if there are others already paid, they may deny you (or your pet) boarding.
I don't think this would work. When my wife bought a dog out of state, she had to go to Special Services to check in and they collected the fee and put a special tag on the carrier. I'm not sure that TSA will let you though w/o the tag. Maybe, but agreed that the consequences would be far more than the fee. Especially considering this sounds like a one time event and not a regular occurrence.